Kyrie Irving has 126 million reasons to defend the Dallas Mavericks' honor. Whether his Wednesday tweet about “smear campaigns” was an indirect response to Christian Wood's pointed recent criticism of his team, though, only a “free-thinker” like Irving knows for sure.

“Smear campaigns are created by all the Cowards in our world,” the Mavs star wrote on Twitter yesterday. “They Throw their rocks and then hide in the crowd and hope you crash out. And When you find out who it was/is and see them in person, go check their temperature face to face lol, I promise you their energy is different.”

Irving's post came less than an hour after Wood, having just signed a two-year deal with the Los Angeles Lakers, publicly called out his former squad while taking an implicit shot at Mavs coach Jason Kidd.

“I've always wanted to be a Laker. I know we can win a championship,” Wood told Marc Spears of Andscape. “Communication with a coach is a big key. Coach Ham and I go back to our Milwaukee days and we've had great conversations everyday about this opportunity. He believes in me and told me I'll be playing a big role and knows what I can do.”

Dallas traded a first-round pick for Wood last summer, hoping his rare offensive versatility for a big man would lighten the massive offensive burden facing Luka Doncic. He never found his footing with the Mavs, though, Wood's minutes tailing off throughout the season as it became clear Kidd didn't trust him defensively. The writing was on the wall regarding his non-future in Dallas well before free agency tipped off on June 30th.

Irving, meanwhile, was traded to the Mavs in February after asking out from the Brooklyn Nets. He signed a three-year, $126 million contract with the team in free agency despite Dallas' failure to rise up the Western Conference standings after pairing the eight-time All-Star with Doncic.

Might Irving's thinly veiled jab at Wood spark a new rivalry between the Mavs and Lakers? That depends mostly on Wood's ultimate utility to Los Angeles in 2023-24, which is very much in doubt considering his checkered track record and the fact LeBron James and Anthony Davis are at their best playing power forward and center.

Regardless, file this war of words away until the first time the Mavs and Lakers meet this season on November 22nd at Crypto.com Arena. There are always fireworks when James and Doncic, or even James and Kyrie Irving, go head-to-head. Wood's presence could spark even more.